Guitars are traditionally played in a variety of positions including standing and sitting positions. Traditionally straps have been used to help keep the guitar in a stable position on the body while playing. In the standing position, the use of guitar straps is indeed effective in keeping the guitar in a stable position on the body and is still the most frequently used method today. However, in the sitting position, the use of guitar straps is far less effective at keeping the guitar stable for several reasons. One reason is that in the sitting position a strapped guitar is being supported both from the neck and on the thigh of the instrumentalist. While playing the guitar in the sitting position many instrumentalists shift their body weight around which can sometimes cause the guitar to shift out of position. Since the sitting strapped guitar is supported from two independent areas of the body which can move independently during play, this can cause many points during play where the guitar may not be in the optimum playing location for the instrumentalist.
Yet another example of why the strapped guitar is not ideal in the sitting position is due to the irritation caused from the guitar strap at the surfaces where it is in contact with the neck of the instrumentalist. This irritation can come from different material properties of the guitar strap such as the amount of friction it has on human skin as well as possible adverse skin reactions with the strap fabric on some instrumentalist.
A third example is due to the design of the sound box of the guitar itself. Most guitar manufacturers still use traditional figure eight style shapes with either square edges or only slightly radiused corners. When these corners rest against the curved thigh of the instrumentalist, there is very little surface area to grip to the instrumentalist and frequently the instrumentalist compensates for concerns of the guitar slipping down the thigh by keeping their neck taught against the guitar strap. During extended periods of play this can cause a fair amount of discomfort to the instrumentalist, and over many years of play may even contribute to neck and upper back pain requiring regular chiropractic therapy.
Clearly, there is a need to improve the design of the sound box of the guitar itself to provide a better alternative to the old method of using guitar straps. It is the objective of the present invention to improve upon the design of the guitar sound box in order to allow the modern instrumentalist to play the guitar in all common forms of sitting positions without the use of guitar straps.
There have been a few limited attempts in the prior art to make ergonomic improvements to the guitar sound box. U.S. Pat. No. 7,169,991 Guitar issued to Ralbovsky in 2007 discloses a contoured concave pocket shape along the upper half of the backside of the guitar sound box to prevent discomfort and unwanted compression of the guitar against the breast of female instrumentalist while playing. Although Ralbovsky's invention would effectively address this problem with female instrumentalist, it certainly does not provide any extra stability to the guitar while playing in the sitting position and would be of no benefit to male instrumentalists.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,183,473 Ergonomic Stringed Instrument and Ergonomic Roundback Guitar issued to Untermyer et al in 2007 discloses a complex contoured curved three dimensional shape on the entire backside of the guitar sound box. Although Untermyer's invention does provide ergonomic advantages over the traditional guitar sound box for the instrumentalist, it does not offer any ability to increase stability while resting on the thigh and due to its smooth curvature may actually tend to slip on the thigh even more than the guitar sound box of prior art.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 7,449,624 Ergonomic Classical Guitar issued to Boute in 2008 discloses a sound box with two truncated pockets to help the instrumentalist during playing in both the classical and standard sitting positions. Although Boute's improvements do offer some degree of improvement over the guitars of prior art, the truncated portions are substantially 45 degree planar chamfered shapes and they do not contour around the convex curvature of the thigh of the instrumentalist. Furthermore, there is no mention of adding any means to increase gripping friction on the planar shapes in Boute's invention and therefore Boute's guitar would most likely still require additional supporting means such as the traditional guitar strap to prevent the guitar sound box from slipping down on the thigh during play.
Clearly, the ergonomic guitar inventions of prior art as evidenced by these examples do not provide a fully stabilized guitar while playing in the sitting positions and would all require the use of guitar straps to prevent slippage on the thigh during play. It is the object of the present invention to disclose several embodiments of a novel guitar sound box that has a contoured concave pocket shape to provide ergonomic improvements in various sitting positions as well as an optional capability to increase gripping power against the thigh by using an attached gripping pad.